U.S. CEOs Are More Worried About Cybersecurity Than a Possible Recession

With markets uncertain, many onlookers might think a recession is on the way, whether that’s most CFOs in the world or voters in the United States.

But domestic CEOs don’t find heavy economic headwinds their biggest external business worry, according to a new survey by the Conference Board. Instead, it’s cybersecurity followed by new competitors. Risk of a recession is third.

After high-profile data breaches experienced over the last two years by such companies as Marriott, Equifax, and Uber, that might seem understandable.

But U.S. CEOs stand in stark contrast to those of the rest of the world. Cybersecurity was the sixth most pressing issue for chief executives in Europe. It was seventh in Latin America, eighth in Japan, and 10th in China.

Regarding concerns over a potential recession, Europe put that in second place, while Japan, China, and Latin America all rated it number one.

However, while cybersecurity was a big issue, compliance with privacy regulations that protect consumers as the ultimate victim of so much data theft was not. Appearing on the list of internal issues, U.S. CEOs put it at 12, while in Japan and China, CEOs said 13. In Europe, with the sweeping General Data Protection Regulation, or GDPR, CEOs ranked it as the eighth most concerning issue, as did executives in Latin America.